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The PSD pointed out the “lack of ambition” of the Government in the growth forecasts in the Stability Program (SP) and welcomed the fact that the Government recognizes that it made a “pension cut”, considering that its reversal is the merit of the Social Democrats .
“We welcome the reversal of the pension cut, remembering that it was the opposition of the PSD that allowed retirees to have this victory,” stressed the parliamentary leader of the PSD in statements to journalists.
In Parliament, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento has affirmed that the presentation of the EP made by the Minister of Finance “was more an exercise in propaganda and mystification”, emphasizing that only a ‘powerpoint’ is known and not the document that will be sent to Brussels .
In a first reaction, Miranda Sarmento considered that the document reveals “lack of ambition” on the part of economic growthdespite the fact that the Government revised its forecast upwards to 1.8%, slightly above the 1.3% forecast in October.
Stability Program. The opposition speaks of “irresponsibility” and “propaganda”
“Despite the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan), which was in the words of the Prime Minister ‘la bazooka’ -and he stopped using that term-, economic growth does not exceed 2% until 2026, which is manifestly little”, has pointed out. he regretted
On the other hand, the president of the PSD bench has indicated that the Government came this Monday to “acknowledge that it made a cut of one billion euros” in pensions and “now comes to announce that it will reverse that cut.”
“This announcement of the reversal of the cut, if it comes to fruition, means that it was the opposition that made the PSD – the first party to denounce this cut – that today allows pensioners to have this victory announced,” he said.
For Miranda Sarmiento, “It is also a victory for the PSD as an opposition”noting that the PS voted against PSD proposals to update pensions in 2023 in accordance with the law.
Finally, in terms of tax reduction, the PSD considers that “it is very little.”
“It is what was already in the government’s electoral program, a reduction of about 200 million euros per year. But it is important to remember that the electoral program was made in December 2021, before the inflationary process and the absolutely historic increase in tax collection, which grew by nine billion euros last year, ”he said.
The PSD parliamentary leader concluded, at this point, that the Government, “despite continuing to collect more and more taxes, only returns to the Portuguese what it already predicted in December 2021.”
Government reviews high economic growth for this year
“It puts the state to fatten up and returns very little of this value to the Portuguese,” he said.
Asked what measures he considers to be a priority – the Government will approve new support in the Council of Ministers – the PSD parliamentary leader listed those that the party has proposed.
“Since September we have identified that the support should be directed at lower-income working people and pensioners, with direct support in the food basket, and a more pronounced reduction from the IRS in the fourth, fifth and sixth levels, in addition to the reduction temporary VAT on electricity and gas”, he pointed out.
inflation rate will fall to 5.1% this year, compared to 4% estimated in Octoberbefore falling to 2.9% in 2024, predicts the Government in the Stability Program (SP) presented this Monday.
On the other hand, the Government revised upwards the growth forecast for the Portuguese economy this year to 1.8%, slightly above the 1.3% forecast in October, and forecasts that the budget deficit will stand this year at 0.4%, below the 0.9% forecast in the State Budget.
The President of the Government announces this afternoon the new support measures for families
The Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, has also announced that the Council of Ministers will meet this Monday to review the list of support measures for families after the improvement in the indicators of the Portuguese economy in 2023.
Medina has already announced that there is room to update pensions in 2024, with the total correction of the base for compliance with the calculation formula provided for in the law and has also committed to an accumulated deduction from the IRS of more than 2,000 million euros until 2027.
Source: Observadora
